State Treasurer Ma visits Fallbrook

Our little "Friendly Village" recently had a visit from one of our state's most influential elected officials. On July 12, California State Treasurer Fiona Ma spent nearly the entire day in our community, meeting local elected officials from each of the community's special districts and school districts at a luncheon, touring an avocado packing facility, an avocado grove, two fire stations, and culminating in an evening wine tasting event hosted by the Fallbrook Democratic Club at Fallbrook Winery.

Ma was elected in 2018 and reelected in 2022. She is the state's primary banker, with her office processing more than three trillion dollars in payments in a typical year and providing oversight for an investment portfolio of more than $200 billion.

Ma's visit was the result of an invitation extended to her by Ross Pike, President of North County Fire Protection District Board. Pike invited the Treasurer to come to Fallbrook both to tour the NCFPD facilities as well as serve as the keynote speaker at that evening's Fallbrook Democratic Club's winery event. As NCFPD Board President, Pike's hope was to illustrate to the Treasurer the unique facility needs of NCFPD. It was probably a surprise to all that the Treasurer accepted.

Seeing an opportunity for representatives from all of Fallbrook and Bonsall's local governments to meet the Treasurer and express their own special district's needs and challenges, contacted CEO Rachel Mason of Fallbrook Regional Health District about hosting a community-wide event. Mason graciously offered to host a luncheon at the FRHD wellness center and subsequently three representatives from each special district and organization were invited.

The luncheon attendees included representatives from North County Fire Protection District, Fallbrook Regional Health District, Fallbrook Union Elementary School District, Fallbrook Union High School District, Bonsall Unified School District, Rainbow Municipal Water District, Fallbrook Public Utilities District, Fallbrook Community Planning Group, Mission Resource Conservation District, San Diego Farm Bureau, and the Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce.

Each representative was given an opportunity to ask a question of, express a concern to the Treasurer, or just to share what they thought the Treasurer should know about Fallbrook. There was a wide range of questions and comments with a common theme being onerous regulations from Sacramento, inadequate funding for both facilities needs and mental health, and unique challenges faced by special districts in contrast to city governments.

All three school district superintendents cited older facilities in need of replacement or repair, with Superintendent Clevenger of BUSD, while appreciating the funds received by BUSD from the state, noted the district's difficulties in passing a bond. He also noted the growing elementary-age population as the developments east of I-15 continue to add new students.

Superintendent Ilsa Garza-Gonzalez of FUHSD noted that there are so many reports and regulations required for additional state funding that it leaves the district wondering if the staff efforts justify the potential funding.

Chief McReynolds of NCFPD spoke of the challenges to cities, fire districts, and other special districts posed by ERAF. In 1992 the state, facing a serious budget deficit and unable to meet its funding obligations to school districts, directed the counties to divert some of the property tax revenue to these Educational Revenue Augmentation Funds.

ERAF results in an estimated loss of two million dollars to NCFPD per year. He pointed out that he was not asking that funds be diverted from schools but that new money in the future could possibly be used to help bridge the special districts' budget gaps created by ERAF.

Mason of FRHD, as did several other attendees, mentioned that Fallbrook doesn't have one local government, it has many special districts. Tom Harrington, FCPG Member and Fallbrook native, reiterated the importance of local control, stating that the FCPG has had up to 300 residents show up to a meeting to express their concerns on a local issue. Those constituents want to make sure that their positions are conveyed to the County.

The growing homeless population was mentioned by Dr Debra Kawahara, representing the Chamber as well as serving as President-elect of the American Psychological Association, noting that there is not enough funding provided for mental health, both for the public and in the public school system. Dr Kawahara stated that often homelessness is a symptom of mental health issues.

Pike concluded that "too often Fallbrook struggles to have a seat at the table of county government, let alone at the state level." He is proud that Treasurer Ma was eager to hear about the struggles of Fallbrook local governments and to offer solutions to our local agencies.

Treasurer Ma, taking notes throughout the presentation, answered some of the concerns generally and a couple of them specifically. In response to concerns of state overreach or onerous regulations, Ma said that she thinks all stakeholders should invite legislators to do tours, listening to the concerns of local elected officials such as those present.

She said this would help make sure the legislators better understand the decisions that they make. In response to facility's needs, Treasurer Ma suggested looking into the state's IBank program, which offers lower-than market rate loans. Several of the attendees thanked the Treasurer for taking time out of her busy schedule to meet with local elected officials.

The luncheon was followed by a tour of the Del Rey packing warehouse, a tour given by owner Bob Lucy and Del Rey Field Food Safety Coordinator Hillary Decarl. During the tour, Ma learned that after avocado bins are brought to Del Rey the fruit is quickly sorted by size and fruit quality.

After packing into 25lb boxes, the boxes are palletized and shipped out within a day or two. The tour then moved to one of the Del Rey avocado groves in Bonsall. The grove was mostly destroyed in the Lilac Fire and the current trees are about four years old.

Following the tour, Ma said that she was happy to see Del Rey keep their operations in California.

The Treasurer was then given a tour of NCFPD Stations 5, followed by Station 4. The tour was led by Chief McReynolds, his senior staff, and the Station 5 "A" Crew, including Engineer Dave Helman. Treasurer Ma was shown the room where the fire fighters store their Protective gear after returning from a fire. Each fire fighter goes through a detox process to help release possible toxins from their system. They wash their equipment, then take a cold shower, followed by time in a chemical dry sauna, warm shower then they are back in service.

Following the tour of Station 4, a station that is slated for replacement by 2026, Treasurer Ma commented on the stark contrast between station 5, which she called state-of-the-art with modern safety measures and living conditions, to station 4 which is a 45-year-old double wide trailer that would never be associated with "state-of-the-art." Ma's husband is a firefighter with Ventura County.

Following the four tours, Ma then attended and was the keynote speaker at a winery event for the Fallbrook Democratic Club. After her very busy day in Fallbrook, Ma said that her impression of Fallbrook local government is that "the Friendly Village is a welcoming oasis of special districts and elected officials who love their community and work together to get things done."